


Gathering Herbs

by PorkChild



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Episode: s01e05 Lancelot, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gwen/Morgana is also a past thing, I put the other characters in but idk what I'm going to do with them yet, I'll add more tags as I go along I guess, I'm gonna stop rambling and putting my entire story in the tags, M/M, Okay so this is my first fic, On Hiatus, Probably just between the gays cause idk how to write straight people sex, Sex Maybe??, THE GAYS - Freeform, but Lancelot/Merlin is endgame, but they'll be there!, merlin/arthur is unrequited sorry not sorry, ooc probably, these tags are gonna be crazy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 20:23:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9512060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PorkChild/pseuds/PorkChild
Summary: Merlin was just having a normal day doing his chores for Gaius. When an attack in the woods and a handsome stranger (great like he didn't have enough annoyingly handsome men in his life anyway) come into his life, everything changes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER  
> I am currently writing another story completely unrelated to this one. Some stuff happened in life and this one just lost steam. I won't say that it is done for good but it is on hiatus for the time being. Sorry!
> 
>  
> 
> Look at the end for a message from me :)

As Merlin made his rounds for Gaius he couldn’t help but smile. He was normally so caught up with doing work for the court physician and Prince Arthur that him getting to wander about the lower towns and into the woods was a rare occasion. He loved it. Merlin loved getting to talk to the merchants as he purchased different medical supplies. He loved seeing Camelot from a point of view that wasn’t his bedroom window. Most of all, Merlin loved being in the forest where he could just listen to the birds and be alone. Amongst the green leaves and the twittering birds Merlin was able to live without fear of someone finding out about his magic. His magic which kept him safe yet in so much danger. His magic which kept his destiny intertwined with Arthur’s.

Arthur was both a royal pain in Merlin’s backside (literally) and one of the lights in his life. Although Arthur was a prick he made merlin smile when they weren’t being chased or assaulted or yelled at by the King. Despite the fact that Arthur and Merlin had wrecked a marketplace with their fighting when they first met, they were stuck with each other. Partly because after a series of unfortunate events involving a witch, a dead opera singer, and a well timed shove Merlin ended up saving Arthur’s life, and having the job of Arthur’s manservant gifted to the shover (Merlin). Partly because Merlin had magic of a sort that had never been seen before, and it was his destiny for him to help Arthur become a great king.  
How wonderful.

As Merlin made his way to the woods to pick mushrooms, he tried not to think about Arthur. I mean it isn’t like Merlin thought about his golden hair and impressive musculature often. Nor the fact that even when he’s throwing things at Merlin in frustration there is still a slight smile on his face as if he knows he won’t be angry for long. And definitely not the way a whole room lights up when Arthur smiles, the blond hair sprinkled across his chest, the way his dirty clothes always smelled oddly good because they were Arthur’s, or how he’s always protective of his manservant. Merlin was totally not thinking about any of those things as he inspected a surprisingly large mushroom and blushed for absolutely no reason. In fact the sheer intensity of how much he was not thinking about Arthur caused him to fail to notice when the birds stopped singing and the forest became eerily quiet.  
Just as Merlin picked up a more lightly colored mushroom with white spots speckled across its cap, he heard a screech. Like that of an eagle but much, much larger. As Merlin jumped and looked behind him his heart sped up in fear and everything seemed to move in slow motion. Running at him at top speed was a monster with the tail, body and legs of a lion, but the wings and head of an eagle. This creature was about two times bigger than any horse Merlin had ever seen and had intense yellow eyes. Merlin had no idea what it was but he had no intentions of finding out. He got up and ran. 

Merlin, being the most athletic person Camelot had ever seen, proceeded to take about four steps before falling directly on his face. Mud went in his nose and a leaf got stuck behind one of his ears as he rolled over onto his back. Merlin scrambled backwards trying to get away as the creature and scrunched his face up in fear. Just as the beast got ready to pounce on him Merlin heard a man shout and saw somebody run forwards with a sword out. The man swiped at the beast and dodged every attack, he even managed to make a few hits though they didn’t seem to do much. The man lunged for the kill, his sword making contact but instead of sinking into the creature the steel simply shattered. Now it was time for both men to run.  
Merlin was scrambling to his feet as other man turned and shouted “RUN”. He grabbed Merlin’s arm, half dragging him and half guiding him away from the Beast that was now going after the two of them. Merlin actually was able to run without falling this time and as the two approached a fallen tree in the middle of the path, they jumped over it before crouching on the ground, hoping to hide from the thing. They both tried to keep their panting quiet as whatever it was ran towards the log and jumped, but instead of landing on the other side and turning on them, in a stroke of luck it simply flew away.  
Merlin let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and turned to the man who saved him.

“Oh wow okay,” he gasped, “ I guess it’s gone.” Merlin smiled at the man. “ You saved my life, thank you. I’m Merlin!” Merlin extended his hand for the other man to shake. He looked at the hand in bewilderment.

With great effort the man shook Merlin’s hand and spoke, “Lancelot” before going limp as he passed out from both exertion and the wound in his side that they had both failed to notice. Merlin knew he had to do something for this man, good thing he lived with the court physician.

As Merlin lugged Lancelot back to Camelot, his mushrooms and the prince both forgotten for now, he had no idea how much the larger man that he was carrying would affect both his future, and that of Albion.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is my first ever work. I'm going to try to update it regularly but my schedule is crazy and I honestly don't know if I can. Sorry this chapter is a bit on the shorter side but it took me about two pages and an hour to get through about thirty seconds in the episode sooooooooooo
> 
> This is going to follow the storyline of the episode pretty closely, having some differentiation between the interactions between Gwen and Lancelot so I can set up something with Merlin. This is gonna be a very slow burn and the rating is just in case because I honestly don't know if there is going to be any sexy times yet but only time will tell!
> 
> Thank you for reading and please leave comments. This is my first fic so let me know how I'm doing :)


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